Naive
by Messy Bun
Summary: The muffled whine and definite crack filled the air and everyone froze.


The snow that blanketed the cold earth beneath it crunched as wolves and vampires alike raced across its surface. It had been six months since the whole thing with the Volturi, Renesmee was almost fully grown.

Seth and Leah lived happily with Charlie and their mom, and Leah seemed to be doing better about Sam and Emily. Seth could still tell that she was sad. Who wouldn't be? But she no longer intentionally avoided the couple, sometimes even going out to eat with Emily.

Seth was ecstatic that his sister was happy again, and, if it was at all possible, seemed even more cheerful to everyone.

He got along with everyone, including the entire Cullen family. He even managed to worm his way into Rosalie's icy heart and Jasper's beaten one. Whenever Paul was around him, the wolf wouldn't be as grumpy as he usually would be, more pleasant to be around. And to say that he made Billy happy was an understatement when he would occasionally visit his alpha's father. Jake had been busy with Nessie so much that he really didn't spend time with anyone else.

In short, Seth was the highlight of everyone's day. So why?

Unfortunately, just because they didn't have deal with the Volturi, unwelcome vampires still made their way across Forks, killing the residents. So, of course, patrols were still done by the shapeshifters, and the Cullens would jump in and help if need be.

This was one of those times.

The vampire they were currently chasing down was a woman that had killed a little girl a few miles outside of La Push and was caught trying to kill another girl. The Cullens instantly came in to help when she crossed the treaty line.

She was fast, but anyone could tell she was getting tired, slowing down gradually as the wolves and golden-eyed vamps ran at her heels.

Catching them all by surprise when they reached a clearing in the woods, she stopped and spun around. Paul went at her and she tried to run around him but was blocked by Jacob.

Going for her neck, the two rolled on the ground for a bit before seperating and she was up again, trying to run. Seth growled jumping in front of her and that's when she decided to take the offensive.

Running towards him, he in turn met her in the middle and they clashed, making a noisy echo throughout the trees. Everyone knew better than to do anything because it would result in either Seth getting hurt, the person intervening hurt, or the girl getting away. Or perhaps all three.

So they all sat watching, stiff and ready to chase after the rogue vampire if she decided to run. That was highly unlikely however as Seth got a hold on her shoulder, locking his jaw as he bit down hard on the stone body.

She screamed in agony.

They were sure that she was a goner now, and they'd be done. Stepping forward, the wolves readied themselves to rip her apart when...

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The vampire grabbed Seth's head where he was behind her in her hands and pulled him forward. With an almost too simple motion, she roughly yanked his head to the side when he was in the air. The muffled whine and definite crack filled the air and everyone froze as the sandy colored fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Leah was the first to react with an enraged howl and lunged at the woman who was trying to escape now and finished the job quickly, ripping the blood-suckers head off her shoulders.

Meanwhile, everyone was looking at the now limp body that was Seth. The sandy fur blew almost tragically in the wind as he laid lifelessly on top of the snow. Not a sound came from him. He made no movement.

Leah made a strangled noise in the back of her throat and approached him slowly. '_Seth?_' she asked him, the question only audible to the other wolves and Edward. He still made no move to indicate that he had heard her, and she walked up to him until her legs brushed his own.

When she looked down and over to the side to see open, lifeless brown eyes, she let out a noise equivalent to a sob and collapsed on top of her younger brother.

Everyone seemed to come back to life and they all came in closer to the siblings. The shifters had phased back and didn't even realize it. Leah had too and was now naked and sobbing against her brother.

"No," Jacob croaked, shaking his head. "No, he can't be- he's not- Come on Seth, stop kidding with us, get up!" he suddenly exclaimed, falling to his knees beside the wolf.

Embry and Quil weren't much better, mumbling that there was no way that he was dead.

"Jacob," Sam said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder, his eyes hazy. It wasn't a second later until Bella had also joined the small group.

"Seth!" she cried out, placing her hands in the soft hair of the young boy, dry sobs wracking her body. Edward came over, choked up also, and pulled her into his chest as she cried.

Jasper couldn't look at the still wolf that had started to care so much for as he held Alice who tried her best to keep herself together.

Emmett made a noise that sounded similar to a choked up cry and reached out to a stone-faced Rosalie. "Rosalie," he called out for her softly but she only walked away from him to Seth.

"You stupid dog!" she exclaimed, sitting down next to his head, gently covering his eyes. No one expected what she said next. "You think you can just become my friend and then die like that!?" she shrieked. "Don't do stuff like that!" she cried out, hiding her face in his neck as she sobbed.

Her words seemed to shock everyone who wasn't already crying out of their stupor and they too started crying. Surprisingly, Paul was the worst out of the pack besides Leah, even surpassing Jacob in his loud cries. That kid had really become his friend over the past six months and he had a soft spot for him.

Leah's sobs were heart-wrenching as she kept telling Seth to wake up over and over again, only to cry more when nothing happened.

The thing was, everyone thought that Seth would suddenly wake up, spouting nonsense about how "Dude, that was so totally cool! You should've seen all of your faces!" But nothing like that happened.

Seth was gone.

And none of the pack, none of the Cullens, Charlie, Billy, and his mom wished nothing more for him to have known how special he was to all of them.

Because let's face it, Seth may have been the cause of everyone's happiness most of the time, but they were all damned if he wasn't naive.


End file.
